Hmm.. Saturate network bandwidth? Normal uncompressed CD audio is less than 1 Mbps. No problem even on good old slow (10M) ethernet. In fact, works great over an overstretched WLAN that drops down to 2M.

Overload cache? How short on memory is the receiver?

And yes, I do dare to imply that MP3's don't sound as good as CD's. Not even when ripped and encoded very carefully, and with a very good encoder. MP3 is very, very good considering how much it compresses, but it still discards a *lot* of information. And yes, I do hear a difference. Very easily. Not in a car, but definitely at home, with good speakers. And the receiver's D/A is capable of pretty good sound!

Julf